JAKARTA. Public outcry against President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono popped up in Twitter through the hashtags #ShameOnYouSBY and #RIPDemocracy just a few hours after his lawmakers walked out of a plenary session on the regional elections (Pilkada) bill at the House of Representatives, which led to the replacement of direct elections for regional heads with indirect elections.

With the account @SBYudhoyono, Yudhoyono, who was twice elected directly by the people during the 2004 and 2009 presidential elections, became a trending topic worldwide on Twitter on Friday because 125 of his 130 lawmakers who attended the plenary session walked out to express their disappointment after the House rejected their proposed 10 points of improvement for direct elections.

Human rights activist Fadjroel Rachman wrote, “Democratic Party chairman @SBYudhoyono cannot be trusted by the PEOPLE. #ShameOnYouSBY.”

A similar outcry was also expressed by prominent movie director Nia Dinata who wrote, “Democracy is dead. Let’s begin DPRtractorship. #ShameOnYouSBY.”

Moreover, Joko Anwar, another movie director, wrote, “In memoriam #ShameOnYouSBY.”

The strong protests against Yudhoyono, who will be leaving office next month, emerged because the country’s sixth president had previously publicly declared that he fully supported the direct-election system through a video uploaded to the party’s Youtube account, named Suara Demokrat. (alz/nfo)

Editor: Barratut Taqiyyah Rafie